


Help Me Help You

by thesoundofnat



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types
Genre: Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9793214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesoundofnat/pseuds/thesoundofnat
Summary: Tony and Rhodey are having trouble sleeping, so they make an arrangement to help each other.





	

Rhodey had been quiet the first time Tony had shown him his arc reactor. The blue light had lit up parts of Rhodey’s face, and Tony had caught a glimpse of how tired he’d looked. It was easy to forget about other people’s problems when you could barely handle your own. Tony hadn’t said anything then, because he’d known his disappearance in Afghanistan not too long ago had had something to do with it. He’d only been back for about a month, and everyone was still adjusting. Especially Tony.

And as Tony progressively got worse, so did Rhodey. Rhodey had always been the stronger one of the two; able to deal with his troubles in a healthier way while Tony drank himself into oblivion. So to witness his best friend slowly losing it scared the shit out of him.

“Are you sleeping enough?” he asked him one evening after Rhodey had dragged him out of his lab to get some much needed nutrition into his system.

Rhodey fixed him with a look that would’ve scared anyone else. “You’re in no position to ask me that. You probably haven’t even closed your eyes in days.”

Tony ignored how accurate that was. “We both know I can function for ages without sleep. You on the other hand need at least a few hours of rest each night.”

“Are you patronizing me?”

“I’m trying to help, believe it or not.”

“Since when did you care about trivial things like sleep?”

Tony looked away. “Since I realized how insane you can go without it.”

Rhodey didn’t reply, and for a few moments they ate in silence. Tony had so many things spinning around his mind that he wasn’t sure if anything he would say would make sense anyway. He reckoned it was the same for Rhodey.

“Will I need to drag you to bed tonight?” Rhodey asked as he was leaving. “Because I will if I have to.”

Tony shot him a grin. “Nah. I think all this talk about sleep has made me realize a thing or two. Besides, I don’t want you to lose sleep yourself over me.”

“Too late for that, buddy.”

Rhodey would never know how Tony played those words through his head over and over for the rest of that day, or how he found himself screaming his throat raw as he woke from a nightmare only a few hours after having drank himself to sleep with those words still lingering around him. Tony would never tell him how much those words would haunt him.

But he would tell him that he was having trouble sleeping, and Rhodey would in return reveal that he was having similar problems.

“So how do we go about this?” Tony asked, feeling as if they had switched roles for the month. Rhodey was usually the one wanting to come up with solutions for things like this.

Tony caught a flicker of _something_ in his face. Some sort of vulnerability. “Maybe…”

“Maybe?”

Rhodey shook his head. “I’ve found it easier to sleep if someone else is in the room with me. Not necessarily sleeping next to me, but having someone being present makes me feel forced to at least _pretend_ to sleep, which usually makes me fall asleep eventually.”

“So we call each other whenever we can’t sleep then? And then we have slumber parties.”

“It won’t hurt trying.”

So they tried. Tony was the first one to call over a week later, and he was rather reluctant about doing it. He didn’t like admitting he needed help, but he knew that Rhodey was the same, and if neither of them made the first move they would probably collapse with exhaustion any day now. He dialled Rhodey’s number slowly, not feeling very surprised when Rhodey picked up on the first ring. “Can’t sleep?”

“Neither can you, apparently.”

Rhodey made a dismissive sound. “I’ll be over in twenty.”

He was there in fifteen, having forgotten that traffic gets better at night. Tony was waiting in the hallway for him, feeling as if he was looking at his own reflection when Rhodey stepped into the room. “You look like hell.”

“I feel like it too.”

“Why haven’t you called?”

“Why didn’t you call earlier?”

“We’re rather hopeless at this, aren’t we?”

Rhodey pushed the door shut and shot him a weak smile. “It’s part of our charm.”

They shared Tony’s bed that night. It wasn’t awkward since they had done this before, but Tony felt a little weird about it. For the past few years he never slept with someone without _actually_ sleeping with them, and usually he was drunk, but as he lied there semi-sober - the booze he’d had a few hours ago was starting to wear off - he was aware of every single thing Rhodey did. Every intake of breath and every little movement. It was strange to be so close to someone that you could almost hear their heartbeat.

But Rhodey’s plan was working. Tony felt observed with Rhodey next to him, and felt the need to force himself to sleep. The longer he kept his eyes shut and his body immobile, the more he felt himself relax, and it didn’t take too long before his thoughts became incomprehensible as he was slipping deeper into sleep. Sure, he woke up not long after drenched in sweat, and while he felt bad that Rhodey had to see that, it was easier to go back to sleep afterwards. He felt safer, almost, knowing Rhodey was right there.

Of course his stupid brain had to ruin it all not even a week into their little arrangement.

“I’ll be fine sleeping by myself,” he told his friend, knowing it wasn’t true.

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

“If that’s what you want.”

It wasn’t, but Tony was becoming utterly aware of how dependent he was getting of Rhodey, and he didn’t like it. Relying on someone so heavily always resulted in disaster.

The effects of his decision were most likely worse, though, but he refused to admit it even to himself. He woke up screaming, terrified, his heart almost breaking through his chest from how fast it was racing. He turned to Rhodey, looking for that familiar comfort, only to realize he wasn’t there. Wasn’t there because Tony had told him not to come. Wasn’t there which meant that Tony was all alone.

He built a new something, and rewired an old whatever, and by the time the morning arrived he was a caffeinated mess. He couldn’t stop shaking. He had a meeting at noon. He had to shower. Had to eat. Had to pretend he was a functioning human being.

Somehow it became so much harder without waking up next to Rhodey each morning.

Tony knew he had to call him and explain that he was getting worse again, but something held him back. Rhodey had his own problems. For all he knew their arrangement hadn’t even worked for him.

And then they met about a week later.

Rhodey looked like he would collapse any minute, and Tony was sure he didn’t look much better. They took one look at each other and understood. They needed to help each other if they wanted to get better.

So they did.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my [tumblr](http://thesoundofnat.tumblr.com/)


End file.
